The Menlo Park City Council will allow seven Santa Cruz Avenue eateries to replace the curbside parking spaces in front of them with dining tables cordoned off from the street lanes with planters.

According to city staff, businesses could lose anywhere from a single parallel parking space to three angled spaces to make way for the so-called parklets.

Downtown businesses have long complained that the area is deserted after dark because potential customers flock to cities like Mountain View, San Francisco and Burlingame that offer a more vibrant nightlife.

The council last August allowed French brasserie Left Bank to establish the city’s first parklet as an experiment. According to staff, the parklet has been a success.

As a result, the council authorized staff to accept applications from interested business owners between June 12 and July 12.

The businesses chosen will have to chip in a portion of the one-time costs associated with constructing the on-street dining spots.

Prototypes created by Ian Moore Design, Inc. offer two options — a basic and an enhanced design. Both feature a cement deck but the basic design uses prefabricated cement barriers, which are cheaper. The enhanced design uses wood planters built on site.

According to a staff report, a basic design parklet in parallel parking spaces would cost roughly $29,111 and the enhanced design $60,766. Meanwhile, basic design parklets in angled spaces could cost $39,333 and the enhanced design $79,696.

Economic Development Specialist Amanda Wallace said the city will pick up 70 percent of the cost for businesses that stand to lose angled parking spaces and 75 percent for businesses whose parallel parking will be reduced.

The city will spend no more than $30,000 on a parklet, Wallace said.

Councilman Peter Ohtaki said if businesses can’t pay the entire amount upfront they can seek a two-year installment plan.

“The value is not just realized by the business itself but it’s actually realized by the city overall by helping to a create this sense of place and helping to make our downtown … more inviting,” Ohtaki said.

Mario Vega, president of Vine Dining Enterprises which owns Left Bank, said, “We love the project. We think it’s great. We think it really adds value and we are happy to participate.”

But he also would like to provide heating, improved lighting and a railing abutting the street, Vega said.

Council members responded enthusiastically to Vega’s request but said that additional enhancements must be paid for by the business owners, as well as other costs for maintenance, cleaning and furniture.

“If someone wants to spend an extra $40,000 to make it look even prettier, I’m OK with that too,” Mayor Catherine Carlton said. —… generally, we expect people to go for the more cost-effective version … but I think it’s nice to be able to let people make that choice.”

“I think there should be a base line for safety and then we should let the market drive what that property owner thinks is going to bring people into their business,” he said, adding that the parklets will be “boring” if they’re identical, and need to be “fun.”

But Bez Zahedi, who owns the Una Mas Mexican Grill franchise on Santa Cruz Avenue, offered a different perspective.

“Unfortunately, the cost is too high to share,” he said. “I think the city should bear all the cost, since it will benefit from more tax revenues and it will make the downtown nicer and more popular.”

Meanwhile, Ali El Safy, who owns Bistro Vida, said he is eager to offer an attractive parklet outside his restaurant and has encouraged the city to allow them for several years. But the city should explain the nuts and bolts of the process to business owners, he said.

“If we are going to do this, it has to be worth it to the businesses,” El Safy stressed. “We have to get something back. It can’t just be the street, the street, the street.”

Wallace said the council will review the program after a year and decide then whether to allow more parklets.

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